XmlElementAttribute.DataType Property
Gets or sets the XML Schema definition (XSD) data type of the XML element generated by the XmlSerializer.
Assembly: System.Xml (in System.Xml.dll)
Property Value
Type: System.StringAn XML Schema data type, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) document named "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes".
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| Exception | The XML Schema data type you have specified cannot be mapped to the.NET data type. |
The following table lists the XML Schema simple data types with their.NET equivalents.
For the XML Schema base64Binary and hexBinary data types, use an array of Byte structures, and apply a XmlElementAttribute with the DataType set to "base64Binary" or "hexBinary", as appropriate. For the XML Schema time and date data types, use the DateTime type and apply the XmlElementAttribute with the DataType set to "date" or "time".
For every XML Schema type that is mapped to a string, apply the XmlElementAttribute with its DataType property set to the XML Schema type. It is possible that this can change the serialization format, not only the schema for the member.
Note |
|---|
The property is case-sensitive, so you must set it exactly to one of the XML Schema data types. |
Note |
|---|
Passing binary data as an XML element is more efficient than passing it as an XML Schema attribute. |
For more information about XML data types, see the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) document named "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes".
XSD data type | .NET data type |
|---|---|
anyURI | |
base64Binary | Array of Byte objects |
boolean | |
byte | |
date | |
dateTime | |
decimal | |
double | |
ENTITY | |
ENTITIES | |
float | |
gDay | |
gMonth | |
gMonthDay | |
gYear | |
gYearMonth | |
hexBinary | Array of Byte objects |
ID | |
IDREF | |
IDREFS | |
int | |
integer | |
language | |
long | |
Name | |
NCName | |
negativeInteger | |
NMTOKEN | |
NMTOKENS | |
normalizedString | |
nonNegativeInteger | |
nonPositiveInteger | |
NOTATION | |
positiveInteger | |
QName | |
duration | |
string | |
short | |
time | |
token | |
unsignedByte | |
unsignedInt | |
unsignedLong | |
unsignedShort |
The following example serializes a class named Group that contains a field named ExtraInfo, which returns an ArrayList. The example applies two instances of the XmlElementAttribute to the field and specifies different DataType values for each instance. Each instance enables the XmlSerializer to serialize the specified types inserted into the array.
Imports System Imports System.Collections Imports System.IO Imports System.Xml.Serialization Public Class Group ' Apply two XmlElementAttributes to the field. Set the DataType ' to string and int to allow the ArrayList to accept ' both types. The Namespace is also set to different values ' for each type. <XmlElement(DataType := "string", _ Type := GetType(String), _ Namespace := "http://www.cpandl.com"), _ XmlElement(DataType := "int", _ Type := GetType(Integer), _ Namespace := "http://www.cohowinery.com")> _ Public ExtraInfo As ArrayList End Class Public Class Run Public Shared Sub Main() Dim test As New Run() test.SerializeObject("ElementTypes.xml") End Sub Public Sub SerializeObject(filename As String) ' A TextWriter is needed to write the file. Dim writer As New StreamWriter(filename) ' Create the XmlSerializer using the XmlAttributeOverrides. Dim s As New XmlSerializer(GetType(Group)) ' Create the object to serialize. Dim myGroup As New Group() ' Add a string and an integer to the ArrayList returned ' by the ExtraInfo field. myGroup.ExtraInfo = New ArrayList() myGroup.ExtraInfo.Add("hello") myGroup.ExtraInfo.Add(100) ' Serialize the object and close the TextWriter. s.Serialize(writer, myGroup) writer.Close() End Sub End Class
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 1.1
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1
